Really simple and to the point, but none of that matters when you can squeeze that much emotion into such a short runtime. Visually, I would call this a masterpiece. I can tell you at least five directors who were directly influenced by this film stylistically (e.g. Aronofsky, Haneke, Noé) which is probably because it’s so good at portraying subjectivity through the editing, lighting and camerawork. The score is also really great, taking clear cues from the Berlin school of electronic music, which fits really well with the tone and atmosphere of the rest of the film. The film understands that true horror is conveyed through filmmaking and atmosphere, not dumb loud noises or cheap shock value. It has its fucked up moments, but they’re not over the top. The acting by Erwin Leder is excellent and he’s completely believable as this emotionally unhinged individual. The film presents us with a character study of his mind, and while it succeeds, there are some clear issues with the exposition. For example, the film starts with this inelegant information dump giving us the backstory of our character, which is unnecessary for this particular story. There’s also continuous inner monologuing throughout the film, which you also don’t need because Leder’s performance already communicates most of what’s being said. It’s like the filmmakers were afraid of the main character potentially being uninteresting, and I don’t get that because everything else is handled with such confidence.

8.5/10